Inside every seventy year old is a thirty five year old asking, "What happened?" ~ Ann Landers

The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age. ~ Lucille Ball

My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty, and it was the law. ~ Jerry SeinfeldIt's no longer a question of staying healthy. It's a question of finding a sickness you like. ~ Jackie MasonPut cotton in your ears and pebbles in your shoes. Pull on rubber gloves. Smear Vaseline over your glasses, and there you have it: instant old age. ~ Malcolm Cowley

The next seven days will likely be the most difficult of the 113th
Congress. You see, before the new fiscal year starts on October 1, the
behemoth that is the U.S. government needs money so that its agencies
can operate.

Congress’ most significant purpose is to prepare the
annual budget. But as the government has exploded in size and
complexity, it’s become increasingly difficult to manage. And, in fact,
much of the government isn’t managed at all… It lives on because of
inertia.

As a result of the increasing complexity, Congress has thrown all of
the appropriations bills into a big pot called the Continuing Resolution
(CR). The CR is so big that nobody reads it. Instead, members are
briefed by their staff and told whether anything controversial is
included.

This year, the opponents of Obamacare have amended the CR to prohibit
any funds being spent on the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare.
This has the leadership that jammed Obamacare through Congress – Obama,
Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid – in an uproar.
Since the CR has been passed by the House of Representatives, it now
must go to the U.S. Senate for a vote. Majority Leader Harry Reid has
declared the bill “DOA,” or Dead on Arrival. Obama added that even if it
passes the House, he won’t sign it.

In the next seven days, this very significant disagreement must be
resolved or the government shuts down. If it shuts down, the financial
markets react badly, confidence in the United States erodes and the
economy, which is already struggling, will likely take a renewed downturn.

Or so common wisdom from the mainstream media tells us. But I don’t buy it.

The problem is that John Boehner does. He’s preparing to cave. Let me explain why this is bad for America.

Can Boehner Stand Up to Obama?

Since the financial crisis of 2008, monetary policy has been easy.
In normal times, easy money gooses bank lending and leads to a recovery.
But in 2009, something very damaging happened that stalled the recovery
in its tracks…the inauguration of Barack Obama and the election of a
far left, anti-business Congress led by Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid.

The confluence of these two historic occurrences gave us two years of
power grab and a legacy of terrible legislation that’s an immense drag
on economic recovery. First there was the $800 billion stimulus bill.
The bill borrowed 100% of the money and spent it on crony capitalism,
grants to left-leaning institutions and big government growth.

Next, the banks and financial firms were socked in the gut by the
Dodd-Frank bill. It allowed the “too big to fail” banks to continue
their bad behavior, and it also over-regulated them so they couldn’t
even misbehave well. Our banks will likely never start lending again
until they’re cut down to size and then given freedom to die. Free
enterprise only works when management that fails goes out of business.

After these two major mistakes, Obamacare was forced down the throat of the country, and we’ve been captured in the Obama malaise
(or the twilight zone) ever since. On top of all this are business
killing regulations from the EPA, Labor Department and Energy Department
that are the icing on the cake of this current disaster.

America reacted to the Pelosi, Reid and Obama triumvirate by throwing
Pelosi out of the Speaker’s job and replacing her with John Boehner.
But since the change happened, Boehner has been reticent to fight.

So here we stand at a crossroads of history. Will America adopt the
socialism of Obama, or will we move back toward the free enterprise of
Ronald Reagan. This is a historic week. It’s an inflection point in
history.

History is never easy. John Boehner is going to experience hell. But
he has a caucus that backs getting rid of Obamacare, and if he stands
like “Horatio at the Bridge,” he can defund and end Obamacare. But to do
it he’ll need to shut down government. He’ll need the Obama
constituencies to feel the pain of losing their money. Once they feel
the pain, Obama will relent and come to the table to compromise.

Currently, Obama says, “I won’t negotiate.” Well, democracy is all
about negotiating. He’ll need to quit throwing tantrums and engage his
opponents in the House of Representatives. In the end, history will
judge if John Boehner is enough of a man to force Obama’s hand.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Ashler Hall on Peabody Av.
This house was brought to the US from Ireland as ballast on a ship.
Each stone was numbered/coded. The house was then reassembled here in
Memphis.

Sears Crosstown

Fairview Drive Inn or Elvis Presley Blvd. original home of the White Polar Bear StatuesThe Nineteenth Century Club Building On Union AvenueThe Movie Theatre on Park Avenue that has been torn down

The Mid-South Fair at the Old Fairgrounds, this is know longer in use. The Mid South Fair is now located at The Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi.

This is a picture of the Zippen Pippen that used to be at The Fairgrounds, It was dismantled and sold to a fair in Ohio. Elvis Presley loved to ride this at The Fairgrounds.

The Kress Building located in Downtown Memphis, it was a favorite place to shop back in the day. They had a great lunch counter in the rear of the store.

The Memphis Belle used to be on Mud Island under a domed tent and it was moved to the Air War Museum in Dayton, OH at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.

The Old Saint Joseph Hospital that was torn down to build St. Jude Hospital.

The Krystal Drive Inn that used to be on Summer Avenue just past National and Fortner Furniture. You could park in the drive in and order your food and they would bring it out in a red basket on a red tray that hung on the window of your car.

This is part of the Eastgate Shopping Center located at Park Avenue and White Station. One of the anchor stores was Woolco as shown in this picture. Burlington Coat Factory is in this building at the present time.

This was the Memphis Botanic Gardens Building.

Back in the day there used to be an Amusement Park called Lakeland that was located in what is now the city of Lakeland on Garner Lake. It had Water Duck rides in an old army amphabian ride, it also had a chair lift ride over parts of the lake and this is a picture of the train that ran thru the park and it was named Huff "N" Puff Railroad.

The Blue Light Studio located in Downtown Memphis, was a photo shop where you could go and have pictures taken. It was located on the corner of Beale Street and Main Street.

The Summer Avenue Drive Inn, it is still in operation. It is between the Wolf River and Garden Ridge Shopping Center.

The Old Baptist Hospital on Union and Madison Avenue, this picture show the implosion of the building as it was demolished to make way for a new UT hospital. Baptist Hospital has a new Hospital in Memphis just off of I-240 at Walnut Grove Road. It has other Hospitals located in Collierville and Southaven as well as a Womens Hospital located just off Humphrey's Blvd. The Schilling Lincoln Mercury that was located at 987 Union Avenue at the crosswalk has also been torn down and there is a Walgreen's and a fast food restaurant located on that property.

The Three Sisters Dress Shop that was in Downtown Memphis.

Maywood was off of Hwy 78 just before you got to Olive Branch, Mississippi. It was the place to be in the summer if you went swimming. It has sandy beaches and a fountain in the center, and the water was very cool. If I remember there was a community of homes close to the lake and it was called Maywood as well.

There were several Shoney's Big Boy's located in Memphis. The had drive-ins as well as the ones at Krystals. The car hops would bring you your order and mount the tray to the window of your car and then after you had finished eating they would pickup the tray from your car. I remember one being on Summer Avenue and Frayser Blvd.

Southland Mall was the largest mall in Memphis until the built the Mall of Memphis. It was located in Whitehaven just down the street from Graceland.

The Mechanical Room located atop the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, It is built to look like a house. The Peabody ducks getting a walk withe The Duck Master.

The entrance to the Goldsmith's Parking Garage in Downtown Memphis, the rear of this building overlooked the Mississippi River.

Seessel's had several grocery stores in Memphis. I remember the first time I went to the one located just off of White Station in Poplar and seeing the isles that you could drive a car down. It had over fifteen checkouts. It was open 24 hours and it was always bust no mater what time you were there.

Adventure River was located at Whitten Road, just off of I-40. It was build out in the country and the area hadn't built up like it is now. It had a stream that you could ride in and inner tube in and it had several water slides to slide down. There was also a Malibu Race Track located there where you could ride go-carts.

I remember driving by these buildings as a child. The ice cream carts used to be stored at night in one of these buildings and would leave from this location each day. When we visited my Grandparents, I loved to hear the jingle of the bell letting the kids know that the ice cream man was coming.

This is an aerial shot of East High School located in East Memphis, between Poplar Avenue and Walnut Grove.

The old entrance to the Memphis Zoo located in Overton Park,

The Wonder Bread Bakery located in Downtown Memphis. Whenever you would pass this building you could smell fresh bread cooking. I toured it with my Aunts Kindergarden class as a child and I remember that they gave us a small loaf of bread after the tour.

This is the Memphis College of Art build located in Overton Park.

The Lobby of The Peabody Hotel and the Duck Fountain in the center.

The Wolf River Harbor across from Mud Island. The building facing downtown is the Goldsmith's Parking Garage and First Tennessee Bank.

Buntyn's Cafe on Southern offered some of the best food in the area. The food was always fresh and the breads were awesome.

The Buster Brown Shoe store on Lamar Avenue which has been torn down.

This is the location of The Memphis Colosseum built behind the Liberty Bowl at the Memphis Fairgrounds.

The Public Eye BBQ located in the Cooper-Young Area.

Jack Pirtle Chicken had several Drive Thru's in town. The served some of the best fried Chicken Livers and Fried Chicken Gizzards.

The Carousel that was located at the Memphis Fairgrounds. When the Fairgrounds was dismantled it was put into storage and probably never to be seen again.

This Admiral Benbow Inn was located on Union Avenue across from the Methodist Hospital.

This is a picture of Monkey Island located at the Memphis Zoo in Overton Park

This is a model of The Bass Pro Shop that is going into The Pyramid.

This is an old postcard of Riverside Drive, and as you can see a lot of changes have been made.

A great Steak house in Memphis.

The Rivermont was built as a Hotel and later it was sold for Condo's on the river.

The Audubon Park Bridge over the lake.

Aerial View of The Memphis Fairgrounds.

Danny Thomas standing in front of his Hospital, St Jude Research Hospital.